KP: Extraction
by Trahern
Summary: Drakken and Shego steal a military project, intending to use it to steal secrets directly from the minds of their victims. Kigo. Set before Graduation. Cover art by Chloe, cropped because it's originally widescreen for youtube. ON HOLD DUE TO CONTRIBUTING TO MY WRITER'S BLOCK.
1. Chapter 1: Half Remembered Dream

She tried to drag herself out of the river, but her reserves were gone. She was only able to crawl up the bank far enough to keep her face out of the water before collapsing. She lay there, fading in and out of consciousness, for minutes or maybe hours. However long, she was discovered by a pair of henchmen who picked her up and dragged her off.

The ruler of the world was having lunch when her top lieutenant told her the news. "She was delirious, but she asked for you by name," he said, then turned to the henchman waiting at the doorway. "Show her."

The henchman stepped forward and lay his burden on the table. "She was armed only with this."

The ruler of the world stared at the hairdryer for a long moment, then turned to her lieutenant and nodded. The redhead was promptly brought in and dropped into the chair on the opposite side of the table. Food was placed before her. It took a moment for the smell to catch her attention before she started digging in. The more she ate, the more alert she became.

"Have you come to kill me?"

The redhead stopped spooning stew into her mouth and slowly forced her gaze up to look into the eyes of the Supreme One.

"I know what this is," the Supreme One continued, picking up the hairdryer. "I've seen it before, many years ago." She pressed a button on the side, and a grappling hook popped out of the nozzle. "It belonged to a girl I met in a half remembered dream. A girl who could do anything..."

* * *

><p>Each Global Justice agent had been given a setting to design, each intended to present the squad with different challenges as they took turns defending one of their number from their attackers. It was understood by all that they would eventually fail, so they judged their performance on how long they could keep the target safe. Once a scenario was over, it was on to the next one.<p>

They had completed the jungle and mansion settings, and were now dashing down a city street with a small mob wearing civilian clothing in pursuit. They weren't yelling or screaming, just... chasing. The amount of heavy breathing going on was a little creepy.

The squad reached a mall. The agent in charge for the scenario nodded, and the others followed him into the central courtyard, then up the escalator to the upper floor. They waited at the top for their pursuers, three of them taking position to protect the fourth.

Sure enough, the civilians arrived, saw the agents and charged up both escalators. One of the agents shifted to defend the downward staircase, while the other two fought off the rest. Attackers slid back down, were knocked to the ground or fell from the upper floor altogether as the fight continued, but they kept coming. The agents began to lose ground, which meant they were losing the advantage of their choke point.

"Break left," the agent in charge commanded, and the others moved instantly in response. Together they sprinted along the wide balcony, around the corner and into a store of their temporary leader's choosing. It was not empty. Two agents dealt with those inside while the third locked and bolted the door, then dropped the metal security curtain over the window.

Both door and curtain began rattling at the hands of their outdoor attackers while they explored toward the rear of the shop... until they were brought up short by a second song echoing over the bland music the shop was playing.

_Yes I want it my way, I like it my way_

_It's my way or the highway_

_If that makes me sefish as you have accused_

_Let me just say this: I don't like to lose..._

The agents looked at each other in surprise. "We held out for the whole hour?" one asked.

"Must have," another grated. "I'd like to say we've improved, but it's probably just the urban setting."

"We'll see what happens in the final scenario," the agent in charge commented as the world began to tip over. The masonry surrounding them began to crack and crumble as the gravity shifted, small chunks beginning to fall sideways as-

The agents awoke as the backs of their chairs hit the metal bar that stretched across the room behind them. In front of each agent was desk, on which were four incident reports, two of them already filled out. There were to write the third while their memories of the latest scenario were still fresh, before embarking on the fourth and final one. There was no point in removing the IV infusion lines until then.

"Well, compared to being killed by the crowd, that was pretty painless," the fourth agent, the dreamer for the scenario, opined as he pulled his chair back onto all four legs. He was about to add that it could be sufficient motivation for making it through the whole hour, but he was interrupted by a female voice.

"Oh, I'd say the pain is about to start."

All four agents twisted in their seats to look behind them. On the floor lay a fifth Global Justice agent and a man in military uniform, the operator of the device to which they were connected. Beside the unconscious pair, a smirking villainess stood with her hands on her hips. They recognised her immediately, pulled the IVs from their forearms, and tried to surround her.

Shego didn't give them the chance. She launched into a spinning kick that knocked out the smallest of the group in one go, somersaulted into a landing on the rebound, and paused just long enough to ignite the green glow around her hands before laying into the others. She could have toyed with them to draw out the fight, but her employer was watching and intended to make a quick getaway. In short order, the four agents were in an unconscious pile beside her first two victims.

"Well done, Shego!" Drakken congratulated her, walking into the room once the violence was over. He approached the table on which a large metal case sat. "With the PASIV device under my control, I will finally be able to steal the secrets of whoever I choose! No more temperamental brain sifters, mind drills or cranial drains!"

"Didn't _you_ design all those flawed mindreading machines?" Shego asked with a straight face.

"The brain tap worked..." the mad scientist whined.

"Once," the green girl was compelled to point out as her smirk returned, "And it fizzled once it was done."

"I blame that on feedback from Dr. Possible's disorganised mind," Drakken grumbled as he snatched up the booklet beside the metal case, browsed the labelled diagram, then flicked a switch on the machine. The IV lines retracted through the holes in each corner of the case. With a satisfied smile, Drakken tossed the manual inside before shutting and locking the case. He yanked it off the table, almost let it hit the floor after misjudging the weight, and turned back to the door. "Let's get out of here before Kim Possible shows up."

Shego almost wished the heroine _would_ make an appearance. "So what does Project Someone's Sin do, again?" she asked as they made their way down the corridor. The base was underground, and they had to take an elevator back up to the escape craft.

"Project _Somnacin_," her employer enunciated with a huff. "Shared dreaming. The military designed it for training soldiers, but I shall twist it to a much more insidious purpose. Imagine walking through a world that personifies the human mind! Stealing their innermost secrets would be as easy as breaking into a safe!"

The villainess had no comment. It sounded like a good plan, but it wasn't the first of Drakken's plans that started off on a good note, only to spiral into abject stupidity. And it was only a matter of time before Kimmie caught up to them to take the shiny briefcase back. How did that work, anyway? It looked like all the machine did was drug several people at the same time...

"Wait a minute. Are you planning to hook me up to that thing?"

"Of course! You're the thief, Shego," Drakken said as he hit the button for the elevator, which opened immediately.

"Hold on there, sport. You're doing no such thing until I know exactly how it works."

"Heavens forbid you actually pay attention for a change," the mad scientist muttered under his breath.

"Wha's that?"

"Nothing!" Drakken insisted as the elevator doors closed behind them.

* * *

><p>http:www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=QqNlnBC8EbI


	2. Chapter 2: We Built Our Own World

The school bell rang, releasing the afternoon tide of teenagers grateful for the end of yet another educational day. Two walked side by side, continuing the discussion they'd been having as part of their last class.

"So you don't think Judaism is even more outdated than Christianity?" Kim Possible asked her blond, freckled best friend since forever (and more recently, boyfriend).

Ron Stoppable gave his locker a friendly thump, and the door sprung open so he could dump his books inside. A bag of one snack food or another also fell out, but the sound of it hitting the floor woke the naked mole rat in the pocket of his cargo pants. Rufus immediately hopped out of the pocket and onto the snackbag, ripped it open with his teeth and dove right in.

"Kim, the best kinda theist is also a realist," Ron told the redhead. "Yeah, it's old, which also means tried and tested. Now, granted, there's some good stuff and some bad stuff, which is why there's been one variation on a theme after another over the years..."

"Years, decades, centuries..." Kim inserted.

"And in all that time, has 'thou shalt not kill' ever gone outta style?"

"I know a lot of Christians seem to have thought so over the last two millenia. And it's still going on, like that so-called Christian murdering a man as he came out of church because he's an abortion doctor..."

"A religious fanatic who wrongly took God's judgement into his own hands. And the less specific examples were all products of their time." Ron picked Rufus (and the empty snack bag) up off the floor. The rodent perched on Ron's shoulder as the boy accompanied his girlfriend to her locker just down the corridor. "It's rediculous, really, how so many can get 'thou shalt not kill' wrong."

Kim opened her locker, revealing the computer squeezed inside. Wade Load was already on the screen, and he watched the conversation between the couple with curiosity. "Okay, I'll admit the social commandments are generally a good idea," the redhead decided, "No killing, stealing or lying. But don't you think the rest need to get with the times?"

Ron shrugged. "Look, we only invented technology two hundred years ago, and we'd only discovered we weren't the center of the universe two hundred years before that." He waved his hands around in a grandiose gesture. "Biiig changes that the people of two _thousand_ years ago would scarcely believe, because they never saw the evidence. They just knew what they were taught."

"No other gods, saying His name in vain, keeping holy the Sabbath?"

"KP, if you're gonna believe in a god, you gotta show a little respect; and I have no argument against doing nothing work-related on Saturdays."

Wade took the opportunity to interrupt at that point. "Are you two having a serious discussion about religion?"

"Yeah," Kim answered, then looked back at Ron in surprise. "Hey, yeah! We're having an actual discussion! About something we were talking about in class!"

"Heh, how about that?" Ron's smile suggested he wasn't sure whether to be pleased or disturbed by the revelation. "I guess I had to start _dating_ your brain for it to rub off on me. Who knew?"

"Maybe it's because it's one of the very few school subjects you're actually interested in," Kim said with a smirk.

"Mmyeeaah I'd rather go with the dating thing."

With an amused giggle, the redhead turned back to the computer. "What's the sitch, Wade?"

"Doctor Director's asking for your help."

"Personally?" Kim asked.

"Asking?" Ron interrupted. "No travel tube surprises or ninja-bots?"

"Apparently not, and yeah, personally. The military were demonstrating some secret prototype for Global Justice when Drakken and Shego broke in and stole it!" Kim automatically glanced to the two photographs stuck to the inside of her locker door as Wade continued, "Doctor Director has a car waiting outside. She'll brief you on the details."

The car proved to be more of a limousine (the subtle, unstretched type) with darkened windows, and contained the head of Global Justice herself. "Kimberly. Ronald," Dr. Director greeted them once they were in and the door was shut.

"Betty," the teenagers chorused, and in deference to the company they were in, there were no ensuing cries of, "Jinx! You owe me a soda!" Instead, they turned their attention to Dr. Director's companion. He was wearing the uniform of an army lieutenant.

"This is..." Dr. Director began, then paused, trying to remember his first name.

"Arthur," the officer supplied, assuming that was what Dr. Director was after. First names seemed to be the protocol for this meeting.

"He was liasing with us in regard to a top secret project called Somnacin. The military have been experimenting with dream-sharing as a training method for soldiers, and Arthur was demonstrating the technology when Doctor Drakken and Shego penetrated the facility in which the demonstration was taking place."

"Uh, question," Ron raised a hand as if he was still in class. "Did the army run out of assault courses or something? Why share dreams?"

"And _how_?" Kim added, more interested in the technology and how Drakken might intend to use it.

"Arthur glanced down at the folder in his lap, then looked to Dr. Director. She nodded, saying, "You can trust them with the information."

"They're schoolkids," Arthur pointed out. Kim was instantly reminded of Will Du. The officer didn't seem to take it personally like Du did, but he was clearly unimpressed that a top secret agency was willing to entrust secrets (that technically weren't theirs to keep) to a pair of unknown teenagers.

"Kimberly is extremely capable," Dr. Director assured him, though she was looking at the teen hero with a slight smile as she spoke, "And Ronald compliments her perfectly. Even the naked mole rat has saved the day, on occasion."

"The naked mole rat?" Arthur repeated, dumbfounded, before scrutinizing the small pink creature still perched on Ron's shoulder. He blinked in surprise as the creature seemed to wave and approximate a vocal greeting.

Kim drew his attention back to her, trying not to let her irritation show. "I've worked alongside the militaries of several nations in the past, and I have plenty of experience fighting Shego and Drakken."

"_You_ fight the girl with the glowing hands," Arthur extrapolated from her statement.

"I'm the only one who _can_."

Finally showing signs of being impressed, the officer handed the folder over to the redhead. The cover was covered with top secret and government property warnings. The first page read:

**Portable Automated Somnacin IntraVenous (PASIV) Device**

**Instruction Manual MV-235A**

The illustration showed the device fit inside a briefcase. The following pages were full of labelled diagrams and operation instructions. Kim skimmed through it all as Arthur spoke. "It's the Somnacin compound that allows for shared dreaming. The brain is essentially a computer that uses chemical processes as well as electrical; like you need the right cables to network several computers, the compound allows you to network people's minds... but only when they're asleep."

"Why's that?" Ron asked, pretending he already understood everything that had been said so far.

"We only use so much of our brain's potential while we're awake, because it's busy perceiving the world around us. When we're asleep, it can do almost anything. In a dream, the mind creates and perceives its world simultaniously, and it does it so well we don't even notice... which allows us to take over the creating part."

Kim looked up at Arthur as his entire demeanour changed and she realised that, for a stick in the mud, he was actually enthusiastic about this work. She listened attentively as he continued, "We call the person who designs the dream the architect. The dreamer is the one who fills that dream with their subconscious. All the people you see in the dream _other than those sharing the dream_ are projections of that subconscious, that you can interact with just like regular people."

"So how do you use it to train soldiers?" Kim asked.

"Soldiers can attack each other in a dream - shoot, stab, strangle each other - and then wake up, no worse for wear. You also wake up if you die in the dream."

"You can feel pain in the dream?"

"It wouldn't be realistic if you couldn't feel pain, right?" Arthur allowed a moment for that to sink in before continuing, "Another popular training method is for the architect to change the dream while they're in it. The dreamer's subconscious reacts and the projections attack the architect. Those sharing the dream are tasked with the architect's defense."

Kim had to admit she was intrigued. "Does the dreamer decide who the projections resemble?"

"Not consciously. The projections are whatever the dreamer expects to see in the setting chosen by the architect. Civilians in an urban setting, soldiers in a military base..."

"So by choosing the setting, you choose the difficulty of the mission!" Ron finally cottoned on. "Wow. You could make a fortune selling this to roleplay game developers. Dungeon master architects! Badical!"

Arthur wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Well, it was an outside contractor that developed the Somnacin compound, but the project was funded by the military. There weren't any plans to release it to the general public. Now, of course..."

"Drakken didn't steal it to sell it off," Kim was certain, "He intends to _use_ it for something. The question is, for what. It must be something more than just training his henchmen..."

"They could use it," Ron had to admit.

"Does the military use this technology for anything else?"

Arthur shook his head. "No, but it's certainly not something we want to see in the hands of a super villain. Who knows what a mad scientist might come up with? We need the device back as soon as possible."

Kim couldn't resist a grin. "Which is where I come in."

"...Who'd _want_ to share a dream with a mad scientist?" Ron suddenly asked.

* * *

><p>"Oh no," Shego declared, "No way. Nothing you can say will persuade me to share my dreamspace with <em>you<em>."

"But Shego, it takes at least two people to use this technology!" Drakken ranted grumpily. "How else are we supposed to test the device?"

"Find someone with a secret you want me to steal and we'll test it on them."

"Before we do that, I have to go in and make sure my dream designs will suit our needs. Both of us need to go under for that!"

"But you want me to be the dreamer! You don't want to go traipsing around my subconscious, Doc. It won't wait until you start changing things to attack you on sight."

Drakken blinked several times before hesitantly asking, "Are you saying you have to restrain yourself from attacking me every time I enter your field of vision?"

"Pretty much."

"Just like your brothers, then."

"Wha?"

To Shego's surprise, Drakken smiled and even dared to pat her hand. "I always knew we were a kind of evil family." He turned and went straight back to ranting mode before she could so much as growl in frustration. "Don't worry, Shego! We have plenty of options schlubbing around the lair. It's about time one of them proved useful."

A few minutes later, one of Drakken's lackadaisical henchmen was sitting in one of three recliners next to the PASIV Device, rolling up his sleeve. Shego watched as the mad scientist inserted the IV into the overweight henchman's arm, then yanked another IV line from the device and turned to Shego.

With a sigh, the villainess pulled the glove off her arm and tugged her sleeve the short distance it would go, muttering, "I'm still probably going to regret this." The IV in place, Shego took the next recliner while Drakken parked himself in the one closest to the device, yanking up his own sleeve with a rediculously enthusiastic grin.

A moment later, Drakken asked, "Ready?" and hit the injection activation trigger without waiting for a reply...

Wet.

They were sitting in Drakken's hovercar, which was cruising over one city or another. Shego wasn't paying attention, because she was currently preoccupied by the fact that they were in a vehicle with no roof... and it was raining.

"Nrrr," Drakken tried to growl, "I should have asked if he had to go to the bathroom first."


	3. Chapter 3: Dream Is Collapsing

"It's raining because he's gotta _go_?" Shego asked, once she was sure it was just water hitting her in the face.

"The human mind is full of symbolism and metaphor, Shego," Drakken explained. "Cigars and tunnels and so on."

Shielding her eyes, the green girl scanned the rooftops of the skyscrapers ahead before taking the controls and guiding the hovercar to her chosen landing spot. "I thought Freud was old hat."

"If this was your dream, he might have been personified as an old hat..."

"I _mean_ I thought dreams were just random electrical impulses triggering memories that our brains try to organise so it'll all make sense."

"Bah! Any true genius would tell you that it takes more than a random perspective to trigger real inspiration."

Shego thought different perspectives had always been the key factor, but she wasn't about to press the issue. "If you say so, Doc. So, uh, where is the henchman anyway? Why isn't he here?"

"He's... elsewhere. I added various social venues for him to amuse himself in. You see, to him this really is just a dream; he should remain entertained and unware as we head for the bank."

"Which is where?" Shego asked as the hovercar landed.

"Um..." Drakken glanced around uncertainly.

"Oh, come on! You designed this place!"

"Yes I did, I made a 3D model and everything! I'm just... having difficulty... imagining it from the inside..."

"Can't you just dream up a map in the glove compartment or something?"

Drakken didn't appreciate her tone. "Glove compartment, I'll... as if I'd stoop so... gnaah!" Cutting short his barely comprehensible grumbling, he reached into his lab coat and dramatically pulled out a handheld device with a screen. "Ha! We can find the bank with this."

The villainous pair left the vehicle to slowly fill with rainwater as they entered the building and took the elevator down to ground level. Shego, observing her surroundings the whole time, finally commented on the decor. "Gotta hand it to you, Doctor D, you've given the place a lot of detail."

"The mind fills in a lot of the blanks automatically, actually. For instance, if I design a building to be a hundred years old, I don't have to worry about every nick and scuff, just the more important things like whether something is made of iron or steel, or if it's got double glazing. Besides, it's a dream. You don't tend to notice anything strange about it until you wake up."

"So which city is it?"

"Oh, none. It's a bad idea to recreate entire environments from memory."

Shego turned to glare suspiciously at him. "Why's that?"

"Because it makes it easier to forget you're dreaming," Drakken responded, too deeply entrenched in explanatory mode to notice her less than friendly attention. "You might end up reliving a past event at that location. Or, since it's a dream, you could live through an event you wish _had_ happened at that location. If I copied Paris, and you'd always wanted to go to Paris, you might lose focus and start visiting the tower and the arch and the museum and so on."

"So there's no city like this in the real world?"

"No! Well, maybe Vancouver."

"Why Vancouver?"

"Because most of it looks like one American city or another. That's why so many television shows are filmed there."

"I'm not gonna ask how you know that."

They reached the ground floor and walked into what turned out to be a hotel lobby, complete with guests and employees. Shego watched them as they made for the entrance, but they seemed perfectly normal. "And these are projections of the henchman's subconscious?"

"Yes, th-"

"_Just_ projections, right? I mean, beating them all up wouldn't put him in a coma, or anything."

"Of course not!"

"Just checking."

The first thing Shego did when they got outside was to walk out onto the street. As soon as the first car that would have run her over screeched to a halt, she walked around it, yanked out the driver and tossed him away, nearly hitting Drakken in the process. The blue madman was stunned until she yelled at him to get a move on.

"Enjoying yourself?" he asked after he'd rushed around the car and parked himself in the passenger seat.

"Actually, yeah. I could get used to hurting everyone in my path without consequence."

Drakken's response was delayed as he was thrown back into his seat by Shego's abrupt acceleration. "Aren't you already wanted in eleven countries?"

"What's your point?" Shego deadpanned as she smoothly shifted upwards.

"Hmph. Turn left at the next intersection."

For the next ten minutes, Drakken gave instructions and held on for dear life as Shego drove across town at twice the speed limit, regardless of traffic. The green girl was disappointed that no police or car chases were involved. Another five minutes were spent doing a figure eight around two blocks until Drakken started looking out the window instead of his locator device; apparently his creations were never perfect even in his own head.

The pair walked in, essentially ignored until Shego had taken stock of their surroundings and sprang into action. Even armed, the bank's security was no match for her comet-given superpowers. When she ran out of guards, she simply blasted through any furniture (or wall) in her way as she worked towards the back of the building, Drakken following in her wake and watching carefully to avoid any flying debris.

The room-sized safe was unlike any Shego had broken into before, but the design was simple enough for her to suss out the locking mechanism. She could have asked Drakken, but where was the fun in that? Dialing up the heat and energy of her glow, she fired a continuous blast with both hands, cutting through solid steel and the bolts hidden within.

Within minutes, she had torn the safe door open. The walls within were lined with safety deposit boxes of various size, but a shallow one sat in a trolley in the center of the room. Shego marched over and, without preamble, opened it.

"Well?" Drakken called from outside the doorway. "Did it work? What's inside?"

Shego rooted around in the pile of envelopes, all addressed to someone called Harmony, but only came across one other item. A photograph. She picked it out of the mess for a closer look.

After staring at it for a long moment, she put it back and closed the box.

"I think you're gonna have to be more careful and specific with how you go about this, doc," she informed her employer as she exited the vault.

"Oh? What did you find?"

"Something important and _personal_. You need to tailor the dream to your needs in order to make sure the dreamer has whatever you're after in mind while they're here, like recreate their workplace, or something."

Drakken rubbed his chin in thought. "Hm, I guess you have a point. It's not like we were after anything in particular for this test, after all. Still, we've proven it can be done! Imagine! The secrets of any military or scientific leaders all over the world are ours for the taking! Who knows what we might discover!"

Shego placed her hands on her hips and gazed at him levelly. "So you've noone specific in mind to use this on."

"...Well, no. There are just so many options..."

"Uh-huh. So how much longer are we going to be in here?"

That much, Drakken was sure of. "I set the timer for half an hour."

"Hasn't it been half an hour already?"

"Hmm..." Drakken suddenly reached into a pocket and pulled out a stopwatch. "Not quite. If this is working correctly. So to speak."

The sidekick sighed and marched back the way they had come. "Maybe there are more security guards for me to smack around while we wait."

There were no more guards. Nor were there police waiting for them outside, which Shego found rather odd. It's not like she'd bothered to be subtle or anything. Of course, this wasn't the real world... _I guess if police are a metaphor in here, this henchman's mental security is sadly lacking._ "Meh, might as well cruise around until we wake up."

Shego drove at a sedate pace this time, checking out the scenery as she went. Drakken might not have had to pay attention to the details while designing the dream, but he'd put a surprising amount of thought into this virtual city. The town center was old, but things quickly turned modern farther out, and there was everything you'd expect...

_Oh._ "Doctor D, did you include a police station in this place?"

"Well, no. It seemed counterproductive."

"Fair enough. How long has it been, now?"

Drakken pulled out the stopwatch again, then blanched. "Erm... forty minutes."

Shego almost asked if he was sure, but it certainly felt to her like over half an hour had passed. She glanced sideways at him as an unpleasant thought occurred. "You're sure you set it to thirty _minutes_, right? Not thirty _hours_?"

"Of course I'm sure! I _am_ an evil genius, Shego! I think I know how to use a timer!"

"You _think_ you know," Shego couldn't help emphasizing, provoking a series of unintelligible sputterings of outrage from the 'evil genius'. "Let's track down that henchman," she suggested when he was done.

Tossing the useless stopwatch into the back seat, Drakken got out his equally-improvised GPS device. With the henchman clearly in mind, he tapped one of the few buttons, and the blinking light shifted to a different edge of the screen. Another round of giving directions followed; this time they only circled the one block until the mad scientist realised they had to go up the skyscraper.

It was a modern residential building with elevators set into the side so you could look across the city as you went up. Shego realised that the noisy 'entertainment' district was on the far side of the city center from this residential area; had Drakken done that on purpose? Perhaps he wouldn't be completely useless at ruling the world, assuming he ever actually succeeded at one of his world domination plans... something the villainess had doubted for a long, long while by now. She suspected her loyalty to the cerulean scientist was due to the sheer entertainment value of being his sidekick.

They ended up going all the way to the penthouse, where a high-class party was in progress. Drakken and Shego were ushered in despite their attire or lack of invitations. The henchman was also still in his red jumpsuit, though none of his subconscious projections seemed to care. He was sipping champagne and chewing on small crackers with elaborately-prepared toppings while admiring the view.

Curious, the first thing Shego did was try the champagne. It struck her as the best she'd ever tasted, which immediately had her scrutinizing the contents of the glass, wondering if Drakken had intended it that way, or if it was just the henchman's estimation of it. "Hey, if I get wasted in here, I won't wake up with a hangover, will I?" she suddenly asked.

"No idea," Drakken harrumphed. "Why don't you find out while I run a few experiments that might actually prove useful?"

Ignoring his mood, Shego replied, "Maybe I will... ooh, strawberries." She speared one of the red fruits on a clawed finger and popped it into her mouth, gave it a good squeeze and groaned in appreciation as the juices flowed over her tongue.

"If you forget you're dreaming, don't come running to me," Drakken grumbled before walking towards the henchman with the intent of starting a conversation.

Shego watched the madman attempt to exercise his social skills from a distance as she sipped champagne with every strawberry. There were definite advantages to this dream tech. What dreams would she create? The sky was the limit. Flying immediately came to mind. To do that without mechanical aid would be downright marvellous.

Beating Kim Possible... nah, she didn't need dreams to do that... did she? _Well, maybe,_ Shego was forced to admit, if only to herself. _The cheerleader's fighting skills do seem to be improving by leaps and bounds_ - the villainess sniggered at the pun - _she's always been a challenge, but now she just might nearly be in my league. Little Kimmie's almost all grown up and coming into her full potential._

Her mind now on Kim's body, it was no surprise where her train of thought led her. _I don't know if princess would be in my mental safe, but she'd definitely be in my bedroom. Tied to the bed. Naked and helpless, eyes begging... not for release of course... at least, not right away..._

_Yeah, that would be worth dreaming about, since it'll never really happen,_ Shego sighed. Moving on, she went backwards, wondering if it would be possible to construct scenarios based on whether she'd made different choices in her past. Signing on with Drakken, leaving Team Go. She could beat the crap out of Hego, as bad and as often as she wanted. If there was one dream that was sure to release stress, it would be that. Or perhaps she could dream a life without the damn comet... a normal life...

A life in which she gets to see her parents grow old.

Shego frowned at the mood-killing thought, and drained the rest of her champagne glass in one go. Her mind automatically switched gears to her current predicament. In moments, she came up with a plan, and acted upon it immediately.

A green blast of energy shot between Drakken and the henchman, causing both to recoil in surprise even as it blew out the window. Shego grabbed the henchman by the scruff of the neck and the back of his belt, and propelled him through the new opening.

"Shego!" Drakken cried out in alarm, "What are you doing?"

"Waking us up."

"What?"

"It's his dream, right? Dying in a dream always woke me up. If he wakes up, no more dream, we wake up with him."

"So you threw him out the window?"

They both stared out into the rain, hearing the henchman scream all the way down, expecting a splat at the end.

Instead came an earthquake.

The rain stopped in the instant Shego and Drakken were thrown to the floor. Looking behind them, the lack of panicked cries from the party-goers proved to be the result of their sudden absence as well.

"Told ya," Shego said, then shielded herself as every window shattered simultaniously. Their attention drawn back outside, they saw every window of every building they could see had done the same. The symmetry of falling glass was like a waterfall.

And then the buildings themselves began to unravel. Dust and debris fell as the skyscraper they were in began to tear itself apart. Drakken went scrambling, his survival instinct overriding everything else, while Shego simply continued to watch as the entire city began to collapse in on itself.

The villainess grinned widely. The destruction and chaos she was witnessing may not have been real, but it was no less entertaining.

The floor gave way, and the idea of gravity dropped her down right after-

Shego jerked awake, due to Drakken's yelp of fear as he woke in the same instant. The henchman on her other side was upright, glancing about in alarm.

"Told ya," she repeated.

With an irritated growl, Drakken turned to the PASIV device and discontinued the IV flow. Then he stopped the timer, the display of which caused some confusion. "That's odd. According to this, we've only been asleep for a few minutes."

Shego yanked the needle from her wrist and took a closer look for herself. "Huh. Guess a couple of minutes here is worth half an hour of dream time."

"Dream?" the henchman mumbled.

"Yes, dream," Drakken addressed him as he removed his own IV, then rose to do the same for the henchman. "Do you remember what you dreamt about?"

"Uh... I was at some fancy shindig, I think... and then I was... falling?"

"Falling, hm?" Drakken looked at Shego with a raised eyebrow; she only shrugged in response. "Well, I can tell you that falling in a dream tends to indicate a lack of control in one's life. Have you been feeling overwhelmed or insecure lately?"

"I don't think so..."

"Well, no matter. We're done here, you can go."

Shego stared at the henchman's retreating back as Drakken turned back to the PASIV device. "Most interesting. I'm going to have to analyze this compound. There's only so much of it with the device, after all, we'll probably need more."

"Guess we shoulda stolen the officer, too. Hook him up and we could steal the location of the stuff from his brain."

"Oh, please. I'm sure I can replicate it myself."

"Uh-huh. Are we done for now?"

"Hm?" Drakken glanced around at Shego. "Oh, yes, for now. Don't worry Shego; our next attempt will be on an actual subject. I'll let you know who in good time."

Shego walked off without a word, leaving the mad scientist to pick up one of the vials of somnacin and glare into it with one eye, before almost dropping it.

The henchman was halfway back to the barracks when Shego caught up with him. "Hey, Donner," she called.

The henchman turned in surprise. Drakken had never remembered his name. Everyone knew Shego was far more on the ball, but still... "Yeah?" he responded warily.

"You've got a family, right? A wife and kid?"

"What! How..."

"Did you send all those letters to Harmony?" Shego persisted.

"Ha... wha..." Donner collected himself, intending to ask how Shego knew and what business it was of hers; then he remembered who he was talking too. Still, he didn't appreciate her sticking her nose into his private life. "I _had_ a family."

"So the marriage went south. There's still the rugrat though, right?"

"Rugrat? She must be a teenager by now," Donner muttered, then glanced at Shego's expression of surprise. "You didn't... how-"

"I peeked," was all Shego said to explain. "What are you doing henching, for Drakken of all people, when you've still got her?"

Donner frowned, turned to face the villainess. "I don't have her. Her mother does. And yeah, I send letters. I'll never know if she ever got to read any of them. Her mother didn't want me screwing up her life by being there, and I agreed."

He turned and resumed his walk to the barracks. "I've got nothing better to do," he added as he left Shego in the corridor.

Shego stood there for a long moment, then stalked off to her own room.


	4. Chapter 4: Radical Notion

Ron walked into Bueno Nacho to find his girlfriend already in their usual booth, a book sitting open on the table. "Hey KP. Watcha readin'?"

Kim's attention only partially diverted from the page she was on, allowing a brief glance and a smile in his direction. "Hey Ron. It's a book on dream psychology..."

"Still trying to figure out what Drakken's planning?" Ron sounded genuinely surprised.

"Yeah. I just can't believe he's planning to use the project as a training device, so I'm reading up on the subject. You go ahead and order, 'kay?"

"'Kay. You want a salad?"

"No thanks, I'm good."

Ron went up to the counter and ordered a chimorito and a naco (taco meets nacho, Ron's own creation that Bueno Nacho paid royalties for; though after the debacle involving the first ninety-nine million dollars, the money went straight into a trust fund that the teenager had no access to until the age of 25), returning to find Kim still engrossed in her reading material. Taking his place in the opposite, he watched as Rufus popped up onto the table and dove into the naco before taking a bite out of the chimorito and waiting to see if Kim had noticed his return.

Apparently she hadn't. Though a part of him was irked, he couldn't help but smile. Her natural 'kimness' had obviously kicked up a notch since yesterday's meeting. Against his better judgement, he tried to help with the thinking. "What about mind control? It's gotta be an option with all this mental messing around, and Drakken's tried it before. The compliance chip, the retired folks of Florida, the brainwashing shampoo and sandwich serum... does the moodulator count?"

"That's mind _alteration_, not control," the redhead answered, then huffed as she closed the book. "I don't like this. It's not usually this hard to figure out what Drakken's planning. The only time I couldn't..."

"Yeah, the little diablos," Ron sympathized, "You were distracted by the, uh, synthodude."

"And as soon as we found out Erik wasn't real, you jumped right in," Kim muttered without thinking. The expression on the blond boy's face made her realize she'd said it out loud. "Oh Ron, I knew you didn't mean it like that. We'd both been feeling things for a while, it just..."

Somewhat mollified, Ron told her, "The reason it took so long for me to say anything was because I was worried what would happen if it tanked. I know I'm not typical boyfriend material, and a messy breakup would have ruined the friendship we've had since pre-K."

"_That's_ why you tried to break up with me during the moodulator thing?" Kim's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "I thought you said something about complications..."

"Exactly! Things get complicated, I screw up, we break up, all over!"

"Ron... you've screwed up plenty. Your inner Ron-ness has gone into overdrive on several occasions over the past year, and I'm still here. What does that tell you?"

"That you're a forgiving heart of gold who puts up with me despite all good sense."

Kim couldn't help smiling as she rested a cheek in one hand. "_And_ that I love you. Besides, I've put up with you for a lot longer than we've been dating."

"I've always had your back, KP," Ron shrugged, "Until Erik showed up. Y'know, it's a shame I didn't overreact to that and get Wade to check his background or something."

"Oh! That reminds me." Kim dug out the kimmunicator and thumbed the appropriate switch.

Wade appeared almost immediately. "Hey Kim."

"Hey Wade. Have you looked over the files on the project?"

"GJ gave me full access almost before I asked for it," Wade said with slight surprise. "I'm starting to think they're taking us more seriously than they used to."

"I got that impression from Betty yesterday, too. So, what do you think?"

The image of Wade shuffled some hard copy. "I did some research. The government conducted experiments on this sort of thing for decades, from MKULTRA to the Stargate Project... not pretty. It looks like the current project was inspired by a throwaway comment about psychic spies communicating their intel telepathically with their allies. Back then, the method was declared unfeasible; but with this new compound..."

"Yeah, noone's explained exactly how that works," Ron pointed out.

"The device acts as a hub to which every person is connected, but its the compound that provides the connection. That's why the device regulates the infusion so precisely. Once the compound is in your system, it acts as a two-way bridge; a neurochemical connection that-"

"Uh, Wade?"

Wade took one look at Ron's befuddled face and shrugged. "The device is the internet, the compound is the cable, the people are the computers and the shared dream is like Everlot."

Ron blinked once, and his face cleared. "Oh. Why didn't you say so?"

Kim rejoined the conversation. "So the people sharing the dream are essentially avatars too. That's why they can hurt each other in the dream without suffering the consequences when they wake up."

"Yeah, it's not like in The Grid. That never made sense to me, so I figured it was just a plot device." Wade looked at a screen and stroked the middle button on his mouse. "The compound does alter a few mental processes though, which is why you actually feel it when you get hurt. I'm not sure if they did that on purpose or not."

Kim sighed. "The question remains: what does Drakken want with it?"

"I'm not sure," Wade admitted. "There hasn't been a trace of him or Shego since the theft. He must have another use in mind, but I'm not sure what that is. My expertise is technological, not biological. I can only tell you there's no point stealing the device unless you're going to use the compound. Sorry."

"No big, Wade," Kim assured him. "I've been having trouble wrapping my head around this too. I'm not the super-genius you are, but I'm _supposed_ to be the Drakken expert." A thought occurred to her. "But I know someone who is a brain expert."

"Your mom?" Ron and Wade chorused.

"Exactly. I'll run this by her tonight..." Kim grinned at the boy across the table. "You're coming over for dinner, right?"

"Wouldn't miss it. What about this afternoon? Movie?"

"Let's go see what's on."

"Have fun, guys," Wade said before quickly closing the channel. Even after a year, the fact that they were dating still wierded him out.

* * *

><p>Dinner did not involve Ann's 'brainloaf' (meatloaf in the shape of a human brain), which would have been terribly ironic, considering. The brain surgeon listened as her daughter explained the basics of project Somnacin, and almost immediately ruled out mind control.<p>

"At least, nothing like what he's tried before," she amended. "I mean, there's no way to directly control people through their dreams. Even if he mind-controlled someone in their dream, it would still be just a dream. It wouldn't change a thing once they woke up."

"Even if the compound lets you feel pain in the dream?" Kim specified.

"That's a completely different area. The only way it could be done would be to modify the compound, which would change how it works in the first place. The chances of him finding a way to maintain its original function and include a new one are..."

"Astronomical," her husband, the rocket scientist, finished for her.

"Exactly," Ann agreed with a smile directed at James.

"Well, I guess that blows my one and only theory out of the water," Ron opined between mouthfuls of spaghetti, "So if it's not mind control, what is it?"

"It might not be direct mind control," Jim butted in, before his twin brother Tim continued, "But can't you still influence people through their dreams?"

"Like how?" Kim asked her brothers, who was willing to suffer the tweebs' theories at this point.

"Emotionally." "Having a good or bad dream can affect your behaviour for the whole day."

"It's true," James agreed. "I know I've had dreams that lead me to doublecheck my figures or designs. The subconscious is a tricky thing, sometimes. It can make connections the conscious mind struggles with. Why," he paused to chuckle, "Some of my best ideas have come to me while I was half-asleep."

Kim chose not to ask whether he was half-asleep at home or at the space center. "Hmm... Drakken does have a habit of trying to supercharge things, but forcing people to go through their worst nightmares seems kinda random. He'd have to know what their worst nightmares are, and then build the dream itself. I don't think even _he's_ crazy enough to think it could work."

"He can't mass produce the the compound and flood the world's water supplies with it, can he?" Ann asked.

"If he could, it would just make people fall asleep. It's the compound itself that allows for shared dreaming; if it isn't physically connecting people, it doesn't work."

"What?" the twins suddenly chorused in irritation, speaking to Ron who had been staring at them and stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Do you two share dreams?" the blond teenager asked, pointing in their direction.

"Sure!" they answered with another monosyllabic duet.

"Really?" their mother said enthusiastically. "Maybe I should hook you up to a pair of EEG machines some night."

"We've already got one," Jim boasted.

"From where?"

Tim answered, "The computer. All we actually had to build were a couple of electrical geodesic helmets with USB connections."

"All we needed to do is write the software for them," Jim added.

"Hold the phone," their father interrupted with a suspicious voice, "Where exactly did you get the materials to build those helmets?"

Sure enough, the silent, troubled glance the twins shared proved they considered themselves better off not answering the question. Luckily for them, Kim had not been paying attention to the conversation, frowning into space as she chewed, trying to suss out Drakken's plan; and it was at this point that it hit her. "Wait a minute... mom, isn't the bulk of our memory stored in the subconscious?"

"That's right," Ann affirmed, "Even the things our conscious mind has forgotten. And not just what we see, but what we detect from our other senses as well. That's why a sound or smell can trigger an old memory just as well as something we see."

"Wait," Ron interrupted, "Are you saying that my subconscious remembers everything I've ever forgotten in school?"

"Absolutely."

"Aw, man. I wish I could take tests in my sleep."

James chuckled. "I know that every time I open a brand new magazine, the smell reminds me of the textbooks we got at Middleton's Institute of Science and Technology. Maybe if you assigned a smell to each class, it would help jog your memory of the relevant subject."

Despite the dubious look on Ann's face, Ron was willing to try anything. "Hey, I might try that. Thanks, Mr. Dr. P."

"No problem, Ronald."

"The shared dreams are populated by projections of the dreamer's subconscious!" Kim declared, slightly miffed that she had been sidetracked. "You could talk to them and find out anything!"

"Like important names and dates for history class?" Ron asked hopefully.

"And any secrets the dreamer is hiding!"

"Well, better that than whatever he used to steal my cybertronic technology," James decided with a huff. "I remember not enjoying the memory loss, at all."

Ann redirected Kim's irritation away from her father. "If Drakken can control the setting of the dream, the subconscious would populate it appropriately; but it can't just be a case of finding the right projection to talk to."

"The dream would have to be personal as well as suit Drakken's needs," Kim reasoned, then fell silent for a moment as she thought it through. "If someone put me in a dream about this house in the evening, you'd all be in it; and if I knew anything about dad's new Kepler project, all they'd have to do is ask my projection of him to find out what it is!"

"I dunno, Kimmie-cub," James disagreed, waving his fork around as he spoke. "Wouldn't my projection tell Drew to get out of my house? It's what you'd expect me to do, isn't it?"

Kim deflated a little. "I guess... yeah dad, you're probably right."

"If I wanted to steal whatever you knew about the Kepler II, I'd just go down to the basement and read my notes, or something... oh, incidentally boys, the basement is off-limits until further notice. Your experiments are restricted to the garage."

"Yes, dad," the twins agreed in a minor third of disappointment.

"Of course," Kim was talking mostly to herself now, "Dreams are full of symbolism and metaphor, aren't they? If Drakken added a safe to the basement, anything about the Kepler would probably be inside... for Shego to steal."

"Shego?" Ron repeated, oblivious to Kim's reasoning.

"She's a professional thief, Ron. Drakken designs the dream, then Shego goes in and steals whatever he's after!" The teen hero blinked as another realization hit her. "They could pull it off without the target ever suspecting it was more than a dream!"

Her boyfriend shrugged. "I dunno. Drakken isn't exactly master of the subtle approach."

"He can do it. Especially if Shego's there to keep him quiet."

"Perhaps Shego would go alone," Ann suggested in a surprisingly subdued voice.

Kim wondered what gave her mother that idea. "I dunno, maybe. She's not an evil genius, but she _is_ pretty smart. Maybe if she memorized Drakken's designs... I wonder if a shared dream would work if the architect doesn't actually go in..."

Ann gave herself a little shake and changed topic. "Seconds, anyone?"

"There's more?" James asked. It was a surprising concept on the nights when Ron came over...

Rufus' contented burp from the serving bowl answered his question succinctly.


	5. Chapter 5: A Way Home

"Yo, Dr. D," Shego called out as she crossed the near-cavernous main room of the mountain lair. Drakken was at the main workstation, fiddling with who-knew-what.

"What is it, I'm busy!" he complained.

"Tough. Why were the GJ goons wearing headphones and sitting in those tilting chairs?"

The blue-skinned villain didn't even look up from his microscope."Hm, what? How should I know?"

"Because _you're_ supposed to be the genius."

"I _am_ a genius!" he insisted. "I just get distracted, much like I am being right now!"

Shego glared at his ponytail for a moment, then reached over, grabbed the back of his chair, and pulled. In typical cartoon character fashion, he cried out in alarm as his arms cartwheeled, before gravity did its thing and he received a painful knock to the rear of the cranium from the floor.

His sidekick loomed over him and stated, "Falling wakes you up."

"Nngh..." Drakken gingerly stroked the back of his head. "Why would they need waking up if the timer ran its course?"

"Because it was a demonstration. You wake up if you die in the dream, but that's from the inside. Making dreamers fall is how its done from the outside."

"It's completely unneccessary," the mad scientist grumbled as he struggled to his feet and brushed himself off.

"Mm-hm, okay... so what happens if Kim Possible shows up while we're dreaming? We'd wake up in handcuffs."

Obviously the Possible possibility was one of those details that Drakken missed. "Oh. Uh, well then... we'd certainly want to wake up under those circumstances, yes." He glanced warily in her direction. "And... the headphones?"

"A warning for when the timer runs out."

"Yes, that would make sense. Well... it's nice to see you taking an interest in these things, Shego." The villainess rolled her eyes at his officious tone of voice, but he pretended to ignore it. "We'll test that as soon as I'm done here."

"Actually, I was thinking I'd go in alone and have one of the boys do the button-pushing."

A look of genuine concern flitted across Drakken's face. "I don't know, Shego. It's supposed to be dream-_sharing_ technology."

"This dream juice won't do anything to me just because I'm the only one, will it?"

"Not that I know of."

"It'll be fine," Shego insisted, closing and locking the case the PASIV device came in and picking it up. "I'll be back in ten minutes."

"Oh, very well."

The green girl carried the case to the henchman barracks, opened the door and called out, "I need a volunteer to press a coupla buttons while I take a two-minute nap." She watched as men who filled their red jumpsuits with various degrees of unhealthy builds glanced at each other dubiously, before one of them sighed resignedly and stepped forward.

It wasn't Donner, but Shego refused to care. "Follow me," was all she said, and led the henchman to her own room. It was typically out of bounds to henchman on threat of third-degree burns, so the minion looked around curiously as Shego set the PASIV device on her chest of drawers and dragged a chair over it.

First she put the earphones of her musicplayer in, then the IV from the device. "Okay, c'mere," she ordered, ending the henchman's observations. When he stepped close, she explained, "I've set this timer for two minutes. When I tell you, you hit this button to activate the device." Shego fiddled with her musicplayer for a moment, then handed it to him. "When the timer hits one minute, press play on that."

"Okay," the henchman grated, wondering what was going on.

"And when the timer hits thirty seconds," Shego finished as she sat in the chair, "I want you to tip me over."

"Uh..."

"Tip me out of the chair so I fall to the ground, got it?"

"Yeah, but..."

Shego frowned at his trepidation. "I won't hurt you for it, cross my heart."

The henchman's nervousness cleared almost immediately. "Oh. Okay, then. Whenever you're ready."

The villainess grunted as she settled herself into the chair. The guy took her at her word. Part of her was silently calling him a fool, but another couldn't fault him. She had a reputation for damaging henchman, but they'd always deserved it... in her opinion, at least.

Nodding at him, she watched as he pressed the injection trigger, then imagined a specific location as she closed her eyes.

She didn't remember opening them again. She simply found herself walking down what used to be her home street in Go City. It was just as she remembered, though after all this time, she couldn't speak to its accuracy.

She stopped and scrutinized the front of the old family home, a typical detatched two-storey house, before slowly pacing around to the back. The tree, and the house her father and older brothers had built in it, was slap bang in the middle of the yard. 'Not close enough to spy on, not far enough to sneak girls into,' dad used to say. Shego walked right up to the tree and placed a hand against the trunk, looking up to the treehouse with a sad, nostalgic expression. It had been their private sanctum, a place without parental oversight for her and her siblings to annoy each other, share their obsessions...

"Supreme Guy would win every time!" a young male voice declared from above, freezing Shego in place. Her eldest brother?

"Oh, please," another voice - the other brother that was older than her - moaned. "All it takes is a piece of crypticium to take away his powers."

"Which is extremely rare since his home planet blew up!"

"The Fearless Ferret's a millionaire! He'd get his hands on a piece if he had to."

Shego recognised the conversation, and if she remembered it right, her younger self... "Ugh, enough! Why can't you two just agree to have your favourite superheroes and leave it at that?"

"The Fearless Ferret doesn't even _have_ superpowers."

"At least he's human!"

At ground level, the dreaming Shego leaned her forehead against the treetrunk. Even before the comet that had made its presence felt on that day, her older brothers were a pain in both buttocks. The sound of voices were replaced by the noise of minor impacts as they resorted to more violent means to settle the dispute.

"What about you, what's your favourite?" Shego heard her younger self ask.

"Lightningbirds!" the preteen brother cheered.

With a sigh, the villainess left the tree and approached the open glass sliding door in the rear of the house. It seemed bigger than...

Staring at the reflection in the glass, Shego discovered she was looking at her younger self. Her hair was a sable braid, her skin matched her mother's pale compexion, and not a hint of green in either. Looking closer, her eyes were sky blue again, too. A great sigh went through her at the sight; and then she saw _through_ the glass. Her father was in the living room, sitting at his usual end of the couch, watching television.

She almost teared up, but clamped down on the impulse immediately. instead she stepped into the doorway and said, "Hey dad."

It took a moment for him to transfer his attention from the boobtube. "Hm? Oh, heya Nicky. Did your brothers' insanity drive you off again?"

"Fighting over their favourite superheroes," she explained, half-wishing that she really_ had _retreated to the house, even if it meant...

"Rockets are go," her father snickered, quoting Captain Constellation. "Have _you_ got a favourite?"

"Parrot-girl."

"...Isn't she one of the bad guys?"

"Most of the time, but I like her style."

"Feathers aside, her outfit is pretty slinky, as I recall," her father grumbled, eyeing her warily. Shego felt the need to retaliate.

"Just wait until I grow into my curves. Even _you_ will have difficulty keeping your hands off me."

That not only killed the look on his face, but made him look elsewhere entirely. "Let's not go there, sweetie."

Shego giggled - it would have been a chuckle if she wasn't currently a teenager - and went to sit beside her father. "If we did get superpowers, you'd want us to use them, wouldn't you?"

"If _you_ wanted to, I guess."

"What if I went rogue and became a supervillain? Would you be disappointed?"

To his credit, her father thought it over before responding. "Depends on why. I wouldn't be happy if you did it just to spite your brothers... even if they actually deserve it..."

"It would be a factor. Maybe even the catalyst," Shego admitted. "But they'd keep seeing the world in black and white, when it's really got the whole spectrum running through it."

"When did you work that out?" her father asked with a hint of pride.

"Oh, you know, over the years..." _After the comet._ "I just think villainy would be a better fit for me. Heroes have rules and standards and ethics. I'd rather be someone who can get things done, someone who can make the hard choices."

"Heh, sounds like you should be in charge."

"Chris would never go for it," Shego growled, before mimicing her eldest brother's voice, "'I'm the oldest, therefore I should be the team leader... not that I won't appreciate your input, sister.'" Dropping the facade, she snorted in contempt. "They'll fall apart without me."

"I don't doubt it," her father told her, wrapping his nearer arm around and pulling her into a hug. She froze for an instant - it had been years since she'd let anyone hug her - but this was familiar, and she found herself relaxing into it without thinking.

They sat there together for a couple of minutes, and a fresh wave of nostalgia hit Shego as she leaned against her father. She and Hego had always been 'his' kids; Mego and Wego had been mom's. But she was... "Dad?"

"Mm-hm?"

"I'll always be your little girl no matter what, won't I?"

"Always." The hug tightened. "Even when you're an octogenarian and you've got my brain in a jar on your bedside table. Just don't mistake me for your teeth in the morning."

Shego laughed outright at that, and hugged back just as fiercely. For a moment, she considered staying put...

Which is when the hip hop of MC Honey started echoing through her ears.

"I'm gonna go take a little walk," she announced, letting go.

Her father released her, saying, "Don't take too long, dinner will be ready soon."

"Okay." Shego walked back to the sliding door. Her first step outside, she turned back and added, "Love ya, dad."

"Love ya too, sweetie."

Shego walked back around the house and down the street, her smile gradually replaced by a frown. When she judged she was far enough, she stopped and turned on the spot.

A teenage girl, standing on the sidewalk, waiting for her parents to die.

The rainbow-coloured comet came in low, out of her sight behind the neighbours' houses. It's course took it straight through the tree, which exploded, taking the treehouse with it. Due to its low trajectory, the comet ricocheted into the house, spraying the building and its contents into the street. That impact negated most of the comet's remaining momentum and it rebounded upward and over, back into the yard, where it finally came to rest.

A grown, green Shego in her usual two-colour catsuit walked back towards the devestation.

The debris from the house formed a large teardrop shape across the street, reaching the house on the far side. Some objects burned, others sizzled. Most of it was unrecognizable beyond the material it was made of, but the occasional lucky item had survived intact. A fork. A stuffed toy. A jewelled bracelet.

Nothing of her parents. They'd told her that both had been vapourized, that it must have happened too fast for them to even realize what was going on before it was over. She was never certain whether or not she believed them, but according to her subconscious, she trusted them enough. There was nothing remotely human in the wreckage of her old life.

Returning to the back yard, she knew she remembered nothing from immediately after the event. What was here now was a mixture of deduction and guesswork. The grass had been scorched, save for the silhouettes of five bodies, and the shallow crater of the comet's final resting place right there among them. The thing sat there now, hissing and spitting its heat, but the glowing colours had seperated from it and each other.

Five bodies, because her younger brother would from this moment on be twins, the red glow giving them the power to duplicate themselves. Her older brother, the purple glow that allowed him to shrink at will. The eldest, with the blue glow of super strength; a power that would increase exponentually as he built up his body in the years to come. And herself, the only one who could externalize her glow as pure kinetic energy, something she eventually learned to release as heat as well as force. Powerful. Violent. Destructive.

As much as the event that changed their lives forever.

Hego always said it had been destiny. It made him sound as if he was willing to pay the price of their parents' lives for his powers. It was the first thing she hated him for, but not the last.

Shego stared at the broken, burned bodies as their respective glows surrounded them, healing them, ressurecting them. A week from now, they'd be good as new, even their hair regrown to its previous state. That healing factor would never go away, and they'd all be stronger than they were, albeit not to Hego's standards. They'd learn to use their powers. Break out of the hospital. And then, Team Go...

The back yard began to tilt sideways. The debris of the house began to slide, roll, tumble back towards its original position. Oddly, the comet and its surviving victims didn't budge an inch as-

Shego tried to flail in the millisecond between waking and landing on her shoulder with a grunt. She stared ahead impassively as she lay on the floor of her room in the lair, MC Honey rapping about all the things she could buy with her 'bank' through the earphones, until the nervous cough of the henchman caught her attention.

"Uh... okay?"

The green girl's eyes flicked over to him. "Yeah. You're done here. Shoo." With a relieved nod, he beat a not-obviously-hasty retreat.

The PASIV timer sounded. With a sigh, Shego pulled the music from her ears, the IV from her wrist and got to her feet. Retracting the IV line and closing the case, she paused, thinking the dream over. "I guess we didn't move because it's a fixed point in my life," she murmured, "No matter how the dream goes, that will always have happened. And dad... was it what I thought he'd say, or what I hoped he'd say?"

Shego didn't believe in heaven or hell. The material of her father's body had been reorganised, redistributed, that's all... but it didn't mean she missed him any less.

It had been nice to feel his hug again.

Shaking off her nostalgia, she took the case back to Drakken.

He was waiting for her. "Have you confirmed your theories, Shego?"

"Yep. I'm betting a glass of water to the face would do it too, but it depends on how angry you want me when I wake up."

"Hmph. I've finished analyzing the compound. I should be able to replicate it closely enough, but I'll need you to go out and get some things."

This was more up the green girl's alley. "Like what?"

"Oh, certain plasma and globular protiens, albumin, that sort of thing. Here's a list."

"And where will I be getting it from?" Shego asked as she perused the list in question.

"The Middleton Medical Center should have everything."

Shego couldn't help but smirk. Kim's technogeek was bound to keep a close eye on her mother's workplace. A fight with the perky redhead was all but garunteed. It had been a long while since their last tussle, and the villainess was itching for another.


	6. Chapter 6: Always a Catch

While Shego avoided the use of any of the usual entrances to the hospital by parking the hovercar on the roof, she didn't put much effort into disguising her presence once she was inside. Careful observation and a silent step was all she required in broad daylight, and the lack of traffic in the corridors this evening was significantly less troublesome.

She knew she was in the right wing, but less positive of where the things she was after were stored. Her plan had been to grab the first doctor or orderly she came across, but when she saw a light on through the frosted glass of Dr. Possible's office door, she couldn't help herself. Easing the door open as quietly as she could, she peeked within to find her favourite redhead's mother leaning back in her chair, eyes closed, breathing deeply as she gradually flexed the muscles of her hands. Shego could bet she was doing something similiar with her feet under the desk.

The villainess slipped inside, silently shutting the door behind her. Sneaking around the desk, she quickly wrapped a hand around the neurosurgeon's mouth and planted a kiss on her cheek. The muffled squeak and alarmed expression made the effort worthwhile.

"What are you doing here?" Ann asked in alarm once the green girl released her.

"Now now doc, don't cause a fuss. You've had a long enough day already, I'm sure." Shego watched as the redhead glance in the direction of the phone. "You know hospital security won't help. You'll have to wait for little miss perfect to get here. I'm sure she'll be along eventually."

"What do you want?" the doctor repeated.

"I have a shopping list, but I've no idea which aisle these things are in. I thought I'd ask a kind, considerate employee for help."

"And why should I help you?" Ann asked, angered by the evil sidekick's intent to steal from the hospital.

Shego's smirk was full of mischief as she started pulling her gloves off. "I'll give you a footrub, first." She watched Ann's eyes widen in surprise before the blush set in. She must have expected talk of hostages or violence, not... that. Chuckling, Shego added, "I assure you, they're even better when I'm evil."

Ann's blush deepened even as she responded, "That's not a good reason..."

The villainess pulled out the list and showed it to her. "This is what I'm after. There's no required amount, so you can leave as much as you need before you're resupplied, and the hospital's insurance will cover the rest."

"That's... surprisingly reasonable of you. For a thief."

Slipping the list back into the chest pocket of her catsuit, Shego grabbed the armrests of the chair Ann was sitting in and wheeled her out from behind her desk before turning her sideways. "And the footrub," she reminded the older woman as she sat crosslegged at her bare feet. Without another word, she started work on the left one.

At once, Ann gave a shuddering sigh as her whole body relaxed against her will. "That's just not fair," she mumbled as she slid down the chair a smidge.

"I don't recall any complaints last time," her temporary masseuse pointed out.

"You were a good girl, then."

"Not now. How far up your legs do you want my hands to go this time?"

Ann tried to frown down at the girl, but her eyebrows seemed unwilling to make the effort. "I was joking, and you know it. Aren't you afraid my daughter will arrive before you get what you want?"

"Nah. This'll just give her time to get here."

"And when she asks me what you were here for?"

"Dr. D's making more dream juice."

"So he managed to break down the compound," Ann said aloud, momentarily too relaxed to edit what came out of her mouth. She clapped a hand over said mouth a moment later.

"Sounds like Kimmie filled you in on the current caper. Perhaps if I work on this foot," Shego switched to Ann's right as she spoke, "You'll admit that crush you have on me."

"You wish."

"I do. Messing with Kimmie's head would be a fringe benefit." The villainess mimicked the teen hero's voice. "Mom! How could you sleep with my archfoe!" She then raised a hand to forehead in mock distress as she switched to Ann's inflections. "I'm so sorry, bubblebutt. The evil temptress seduced me."

"Mm, both hands," Ann whined as she looked down with half-lidded eyes, wiggling the neglected foot.

Shego obliged with a chuckle. "Kimmie would never give me the chance to touch her like this without that damn personality reverser. Imagine how freaked she'd be if she found you indulging like this."

"That's why I don't want you to take too long," Ann sighed.

"If you play your cards right, you could delay me until it's too late to get the stuff."

"Your reverse psychology won't work on me, evil temptress. I'm not seducing you, either."

This time the villainess laughed outright. "So you're where Kimmie gets her lip from."

"Do you miss being Kim's friend?"

Though the massaging continued, the lack of a response forced Ann to open her eyes again. The look on Shego's face was the most vulnerable she'd ever seen from her. It took the villainess a moment to notice she was being observed, whereupon she schooled her expression to one of nonchalance. "It was a nice change of pace," she finally answered.

"I knew it," Ann said softly.

"Knew what?" Shego asked crossly.

The doctor gently drew herself upright, her foot slipping out of the green girl's grasp. "Perhaps you're massaging the wrong redheaded Possible," she suggested, then ignored the glare shot her way as she slid her chair back around and slipped into the high heels still under the desk. "Though I suppose I can't complain about being the next best thing."

"It can't happen," the villainess muttered grumpily.

"Check our name," Ann told her with a smile before she rose out of the chair, picking up her purse. "Shall we?"

Still grumbling, Shego got up and gestured for her 'hostage' to go first.

A few minutes later, they were standing in the appropriate storage room. "Is any of this stuff best served chilled?" Shego asked, glancing at the refrigeration units that lined one of the walls.

"So to speak," Ann answered, pointing to one corner of the room. "You can use one of those insulated transport cases. I'll just sit over here and pretend to be tied up and helpless, shall I?"

The neurosurgeon's smile widened as her suggestion provoked another bout of grumbling. She sat, crossed her legs, and watched as the villainess went from unit to unit with the list in her hand. Despite her mood, she still left a row of containers of each thing she took.

The door opened, and both women turned to see Kim standing there in her black and purple mission outfit. "Kimmie," her mother greeted her, "Shego and I were just catching up."

That, and the chuckle coming from her nemesis, gave Kim pause. "Are you alright, Mom?"

"Quite. But I'm afraid she's stealing from the hospital. I'm sure they'd appreciate it if you stop her."

Kim stepped into the room, towards her mother. Her first thought was that there was some sort of mind control at work, but what she was seeing turned out not to be a compliance chip. It was in the wrong place, for a start. "Uh, mom... why is there black lipstick on your cheek?"

"Oh dear." Ann shot Shego a look as she blushed slightly, digging through her purse for a compact and a tissue. The lipstick must have been there the whole time, and Shego never said a word.

"What did you do to her, Shego? Let her go!"

"Let her go?" Shego repeated uncomprehendingly. "Ann, are you feeling restrained or confined?"

"Not particularly. Kimmie..." Ann waited for her daughter to stop glaring at the villainess and look in her direction before she continued, "Shego and I got on quite well while she was good and staying at our house."

"What? You got along?" The younger redhead didn't remember any particular example of that. "When did this happen?"

"The night I came home late. Remember? Shego couldn't sleep, worrying about her brothers, and she was getting a drink from the kitchen when I arrived..."

"I gave her a footrub," Shego cut to the quick of it. "A damn good one. She was _very_ appreciative," she added with a wink to mother Possible.

"Not _that_ appreciative," Ann corrected. She got up and walked over to Kim, lifted her chin to stop her mouth from hanging open, then gave her a peck on the cheek. "Try not to break anything. I'll wait for you in the car." She glanced back to the greenest occupant of the room. "Nice to see you again, Shego. Try not to keep things so bottled up. You might be surprised by the results."

Both girls stared after her as she walked out, until each remembered the other was still in the room.

"So... uh..." Shego hesitated, closing the lid of the case she was carrying, "You wanna take this outside, princess?"

"And make it that much easier for you to escape?" the heroine scoffed.

"Well, you heard her. We get into it here, we'll probably smash stuff."

Kim blinked in surprise. "You actually want to... because she said so?"

The villainess shrugged. "Mothers. Watcha gonna do?" Without further preamble, she walked straight towards the door and Kim, who cautiously backed through the doorway as she approached. Once they were both in the corridor, Shego shut the door and sat the case down in front of it.

When she turned back to the redhead, her usual smirk was in place. "Right then, Kimmie. Let's have it!" And without further warning, she leapt at the teenager.

The pair of combatants went through what was essentially their warmup routine, taking turns punching and kicking, blocking and dodging, leaping and somersaulting, back and forth along the corridor. Shego never lit up her glow during these moments, but Kim finally noticed what had been bugging her during their initial exchange.

"Forget your gloves, Shego?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah..." the villainess took a moment to look at her bare hands before grabbing Kim by the foot at the apex of her flying kick and flinging her off in another direction. She watched the teenager twist and drop onto all fours before mentioning, "I musta left 'em in your momma's office."

"What?" Kim rose to her feet, frowning suspiciously. "Why'd you take 'em off?"

Shego's smirk widened into a lascivious grin. "Gave her another footrub," she explained.

The bug-eyed look on Kimmie's face was delightful. Shego ignited one hand and threw a bolt of green energy at it. Kim barely ducked in time, but she charged towards Shego the second it passed, frustrated that Shego's taunts had gotten to her. The villainess, however, had no intention of allowing her to go on the offensive. Both hands flaring, she pre-empted the teen hero's next attack, forcing her to weave around Shego's thrusts.

"Not gonna ask why?" the green girl asked as Kim flipped back out of melee range.

"So you could be honest when you said it?" Kim growled, taking an aggresive posture.

"Well, there is that," Shego admitted as she began firing off small, numerous blasts to keep the cheerleader bouncing around, "But she also looked like she'd had a long day and needed it." She paused to send a large blast straight down the corridor and charged in right after it. Kim hugged the wall to avoid the energy, only to get tackled by its source. They slid along the floor a few feet, Shego dismissing her glow as she attempted to pin Kim's arms.

The large blast impacted against the wall at the end of the corridor with enough force and noise that it was impossible to have been missed by the other denizens of the hospital.

"Okay, why?" Kim asked, growing still once Shego managed to get a solid grip on her wrists. She was sure Shego knew it was a tactic to play for time and wait for an opportunity to overcome her current advantage, and the villainess was just fine with that. "You're not Miss Go anymore. You're not even _nice_."

"I can _be_ nice, if I wanna be," Shego clarified. "Ann and I made a deal. She wouldn't cause a fuss, and she'd get a footrub. She helped me find what I was after, and I wouldn't take the hosptial's entire supply. And of course, there's you."

"Me?"

"The footrub gave you time to get over here. It's been too long since our last tussle, pumpkin."

Kim knew that was true - and granted, she enjoyed the fights as much as Shego - but, "It's your own fault for abandoning Drakken on that train, you know."

"Well, it _was_ going to to explode," Shego reminded her with a roll of her eyes... and knew it had been a mistake to take her eyes off the girl before she felt the feet plant themselves against her belly and shove. The villainess tumbled backward, the words _nubile little minx_ crossing her thoughts before she noticed the approaching sirens.

"That's my cue," she declared and blasted through the nearest window. Kim somersaulted over to block her path, exactly as Shego intended; instead of the villainess trying to reach the window before she got there, she waited until Kim was in position to launch her out the window herself.

Kim ended up hanging from a third storey windowsill.

"Until next time, Kimmie," Shego called from inside as she picked up the transport case. "I'll be dreaming of ya. And don't forget my gloves!"

The dangling teen growled at the parting shot as she took stock of her situation. She wasn't high enough to make use of her grapple, but she doubted she could manage a decent landing in the bushes below, despite the countless pyramid dismounts she'd performed over the years. Resigned, she struggled back in through the window.

* * *

><p>"Well?" Ann asked as her daughter dropped into the passenger seat.<p>

"Really, mom... a _footrub_?" The teenager did not sound happy at all.

"Got away again, did she?" Ann started the car and reversed out of her parking space. "Don't worry honey, you always stop them in the end."

"You didn't make it any easier. You actually helped?"

"We both know you're the only one that can handle her. I minimized the loss to the hospital and maximized the chance of you getting there in time." Ann paused, then practically gushed, "Besides, she gives really good footrubs."

Kim slapped Shego's gloves down on her lap and crossed her arms, but didn't make any other noise all the way home.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Yes, I know, slow update. I'm currently 10k words behind my daily quota. That's what happens when Bioware decides to invite me to The Old Republic beta. Add Arkham City coming out on PC soon and... well, it's not looking good.


	7. Chapter 7: A little Push

Kim was still grumpy the next morning, which her fellow students found odd because she was usually one of the few who didn't suffer the Monday morning back-to-school blues. It only got worse with her first visit of the day to her locker. Her frown evolved into an outright glare as the photo of Shego stared back at her from the locker door, hands on hips, clearly not giving a damn.

"What's got _you_ tweaked, girlfriend?"

The redhead turned toward the voice and offered a half-hearted smile. "Hey Monique. It just wasn't the best weekend, is all."

"TME," the dark-skinned girl suggested, being Monique-speak for Tell Me Everything.

Kim sighed, collected her books and shut her locker door, banishing Shego's nonplussed stare from her sight. "Friday after school, we learned Shego and Drakken stole a secret military project. It took me most of Saturday to figure out that they're intending to use it to steal secrets from whoever they set their sights on, no idea who. Then last night, Shego steals from the medical center, and she... ran into my mom."

Monique raised an eyebrow at how the end of that sentence sounded. "You saved her though, right?"

"Oh, she was _fine_," Kim growled quietly, "She was just fine, getting a _footrub_ from my _archfoe_!"

"No. Way."

Kim turned her glare on Monique and her amused tone. "It's not funny, Monique."

Monique giggled. "Sorry girl, but from where I'm standin', it is a little funny."

Kim growled in annoyance as they started wandering to class. "Well, then I guess you're gonna love this: it wasn't even the first one."

"Say what!"

"Remember that week Shego had her brainwaves flipped and was calling herself Miss Go while she taught here?"

"Yeah. You two came to Club Banana that Saturday, and thank goodness. That beige outfit was doing nothing for her."

"It was a busy weekend for mom. She spent most of it at the hospital, and when she was home she was, let's say, 'less than enthusiastic' about letting Shego stay at our house. But now it turns out they had a late night talk, and a footrub, and they... bonded. Or something."

"Damn. Your bad girl must have some major massage skills."

Kim's voice became exasperated. "That's not the point, Monique! She's not Miss Go anymore! She's evil! She shouldn't be giving anyone footrubs, let alone _my_ mother!"

"Shego remembers everything from when she was good, right? And she didn't hurt your mom yesterday, did she?"

"I guess..." the teen hero faltered, before grumbling, "It's just not right."

"Uh-huh. You're jealin'." her best girl friend declared.

The judgement clearly surprised Kim. "Jealing? What is there for me to be jealous about?"

"You and Shego got pretty friendly while she was good. Now it turns out she got in with mama Possible too. Except now she's evil again, she's gone back to fighting you... but she's still friendly with your mom. Hence the jeal."

Kim fell into a stunned silence as the pair entered the chemistry lab and took their seats. Could Monique be right? Shego had been like a big sister to her while she was good. It had been a different relationship compared to all the other female friends she add. Monique was the best of those, but Shego had been... closer. They already knew each other somewhat, as enemies - well, more like rivals - do, and they'd both come to enjoy the fights...

"We enjoy the fights," Kim chose to voice to Monique.

"It's her job to fight you when you get in her way," came the reply.

"She said one reason for the footrub was to give me time to get there."

"Really?" Monique considered for a moment, then smiled. "I think perhaps Shego still likes you too, Kim. Maybe even before Miss Go. Maybe she'd give you a footrub too, if she wasn't busy trying to knock you _off_ your feet."

"She did _that_ yesterday. And she got away with the goods, too." Kim slumped over the desk in a self-imposed funk.

"You always beat the freaks before they take over the world, or whatever it is they're up to. But what about the actual fights with Shego? Win some, lose some?"

"Pretty much," Kim admitted.

"So you're evenly matched," Monique deduced. "How many other people either of you know can claim the same."

The redhead pondered that for a surprisingly long moment. "Monkey Fist, I guess."

"Another freak?"

"He has monkey hands and feet, yeah; but the point is he's a master of monkey kung-fu."

"And you know over a dozen styles, with cheerleading on top. Shego's gotta respect that."

Kim grimaced; _that_ sounded wrong. "I wouldn't go that far."

"Well, you know her better than I do." Monique smirked, then leaned over to whisper, "Next time you see her, you think you could make me an appointment?"

While Kim playfully shoved Monique away, Felix rolled over on his cyber-robotic wheelchair. "Hey Kim, have you seen Ron this morning?"

"No, actually. He said he had something to do before he came in." She glanced at the clock. "If he's not gonna be late, he'll be in by the skin of his teeth."

Kim's prediction proved true: the teacher had arrived and was at her desk, opening her mouth to bring the class to some semblance of order, when Ron skidded into the room and only avoided tripping and falling or colliding with someone by managing some bizarre yet fortuitous combination of both without anyone getting hurt. The teacher sarcastically congratulated him for making it on time as he took his place beside Felix.

As the lesson progressed, Kim became aware that Ron was occasionally taking big whiffs out of a plastic container. She didn't get a chance to find out what he was up to during class, but she did see him show Felix what was inside the container during a muted conversation. Apparently Felix found it amusing.

When the bell rang, Kim waited for her boyfriend to catch up before hitting him with a, "Rooon, what's in the box?" using the kind of voice that typically presaged a telling off.

"Oh! Uh, here." The blond pulled the first box that his hand found from inside his backpack. "No, wait," he continued as he peered through the clear plastic to scrutinize the contents, "This one's for math."

Kim snatched it from his grasp anyway and looked inside. "Apple and orange segments?" she asked.

"You know you're not supposed to take food into class, right?" Monique added.

Ron raised a halting hand. "This isn't for eating, it's for smelling."

"Come again?"

"This is because of that sense memory talk, isn't it?" Kim deduced.

Both girls watched as Ron dug out a few more plastic containers, each with a different foodstuff. "I chose food because it's something I care about. Smells trigger memory, so I've chosen a different smell for each class."

Monique looked over his selection. "No cheese?"

"Y'know, I considered using it... but it turns out the thought of cheese kinda rules out me thinking of anything else."

"Why am I not surprised," Kim muttered.

Ron continued regardless. "Our next test, I'll take whichever one is the related thing to smell, and it'll help me remember all those annoying facts and figures I can never get straight. That's all tests and exams are, really. Checking what you remember."

"They're also to show whether or not you understand the material," his girlfriend informed him.

"Well, yeah, but that'll be a lot easier with facts and figures," he insisted, before adding in a worried tone, "Won't it?"

Monique giggled at the despairing look Kim shot her way.

* * *

><p>Shego had appropriated the PASIV device again, claiming a desire for practice. It took a moment to make Drakken understand the difference between tests and practice, but now he could recreate the Somnacin compound, he didn't have to worry about running out of the original dream juice. In fact he was already working on a variation of the original so that, as usual, he could make up for having to steal something by putting his own unique mark on it.<p>

Besides, he knew better than to get between his sidekick and whatever she wanted.

_Let's see,_ Shego mused as she stared at the device's timer,_ if five minutes of real time equates to an hour of dream time... how long could I keep going? How long could _she_ keep going? Phsyically, she's still coming into her prime, but she has all that energy..._

Deciding to err on the side of caution, the villainess decided on half an hour. She doubted even Kimmie could fight for six hours straight, but they didn't just have to fight. It was _her_ dream, after all...

After the last dream, Shego knew better than to use memories for this one. After briefly considering a dojo from one movie or another, she decided she wasn't thinking big enough and drew on some old memories of her dream lair. It was essentially a fortress of doom on a tropical island just big enough to have its own fresh water supply, and beautiful beaches all around. Motion detectors, laser cannons, a moat full of piranha... she'd thought it up after abandoning Team Go. These days she knew how much more she could do with the crazy technology she'd come across in the past decade, but that was hardly relevant to her current purpose.

The green girl stuck the IV into the other wrist this time; she might heal fast, but the damn thing still pinched every time she used it. Settling onto her bed, she reached over and pressed the trigger.

The fortress was more of a large tower, black with green details. Shego pondered the shade of green, darker than what she usually wore, until she realised it matched the grass and leaves of her surroundings. It was curious how her subconscious had attended to such a detail, one that had never crossed her conscious mind. In the end though, it was still her mind, and obviously it rocked no matter which part was in charge.

Crossing the drawbridge, the large jagged doors opened to allow her access. The elevator at the far end of the corridor identified what was on each floor; her finger hovered over 'gym' for a moment but curiosity got the better of her; the finger rose to 'throne room' and hit the button. The elevator accelerated quickly as it travelled the entire length of the tower to the large dome at the top.

The throne room was essentially curved windows with pillars in between, holding up a solid, albeit high, ceiling. From here, Shego could see the entire island; which she did, making a full circuit of the room until she reached the elevator again. The view was fantastic; she doubted there was an island like this in the real world.

She didn't even glance at the throne, set ten feet above the floor, before getting back in the elevator.

Kim Possible was doing warm up exercises in the gym. Shego just watched for a long moment, but her projection of the teen hero definitely moved like the real thing. Would it act like the real thing, though? If she planted a big wet smacker on the redhead, would she return it like the villainess would want her to? Assuming she really wanted her to.

Their relationship was primarily adversarial. After four years, it was practically instinct. If Shego jumped dream-Kim's bones, she'd probably fight her off just like the real one. Heck, even if Kim was into it, she'd probably fight to be on top.

"So are you going to ogle me all day," dream-Kim suddenly asked without pausing in her exercises, "Or are we going to kick each others' biscuits?"

With a surprised grin, Shego answered, "I dunno. Think you're even _capable_ of a fight to the death?"

"After all the times you've tried to kill me already?" the teenager scoffed. "In your dreams."

Shego's fists ignited. "That's the idea," she growled enthusiastically before charging forward.


	8. Like a Dog Chasing Cars

Perhaps if the sparring had evolved into a sexual encounter, it might have been easier to tell the difference, but it simply hadn't happened. Maybe that was how it worked. Hadn't Drakken said something about using real locations? Perhaps it also applied to real situations. Knocking Kim around a lair was certainly real enough. With no musical warning, the awakening had been abrupt and confusing.

Shego had forgotten she was dreaming.

Once she had reaffirmed her sense of reality, the green girl realised she was a sweaty and aroused mess under her outfit. She packed up the PASIV device before heading to her quarters to bathe and change. An hour later, she was clean and dressed again, but still flustered. An idea had struck her in the shower, and it wouldn't leave her alone. She tried to masturbate it out of her head, but since the same girl featured in both the idea and the sexual fantasy, it only provided a moderate and momentary relief.

The villainess sighed. _If I dreamed up a sex slave Kimmie in my dungeon, she'd probably just escape._ The imaginary redhead she had just spent hours fighting had been true to form, except the real one probably wouldn't spend hours fighting Shego in the first place... and that was the seed that had grown into this persistent idea. She idly stroked herself, considering going again, but decided she would only end up sore if she continued down that road.

She checked the clock and decided, _What the hell._

"Taking the hovercraft," Shego told Drakken as she passed by. It took a moment for the statement to register, and he looked up to her retreating form.

"What? Why?"

"I just spent some time duking it out with dream Kim, now I'm gonna try applying what I learned to the real thing."

The mad scientist didn't see much sense in that, but any opportunity to remove the troublesome teen hero from the picture suited him just fine. "Good luck, Shego," he called after her, failing to notice her complete lack of interest - or clawed gloves - before returning his attention to the chemical analysis. "Hmm, if I can just invent a sedative that won't interfere with the compound..."

* * *

><p>The villainess reached Middleton high during cheerleader practice. She peeked through the window in the gym door to confirm the redhead's presence before bounding up onto the roof and out of view. She lounged up there, enjoying the sun, until the students started exiting and making their way back to the main building. Shego had expected the sidekick to be with the heroine until remembering he was on the football team now; instead, the last two out were Kim and Bonnie, arguing about the latest routine.<p>

Shego crossed her arms on the edge of the roof as she looked down. "Geez, Possible, no wonder you keep saving the world. It's less irritating."

Kim spin at the sound of her archfoe's voice. "Shego! What are you doing here?"

The villainess raised a bare hand and wiggled her fingers in a wave. "Came for my gloves."

"Oh." Kim stared a moment at Shego's relaxed body language and took the green girl at her word. "They're in my locker."

"No way am I going near that building and risk running into Steve. Awk-ward."

"Steve?" Bonnie echoed.

"Mr. Barkin," Kim explained. "They went on a date when she was temping here."

The brunette cringed. "Ewww."

"Then he showed up the lair and tried to seronade me with an Oh Boyz song," Shego continued. "He deserved what he got."

The redhead winced, familiar with the security measures she typically avoided while infiltrating Drakken's 'home' lair. "The zappers?"

"Dogs, too. And by the way... exactly _how_ did he know where to find me in the first place, hm?"

"Mr. Barkin has a key that opens every locker. He made Wade explain a few things."

Bonnie frowned. "So he knew you were the sidekick of a mad scientist, and came to see you anyway? What's so special about _you_?"

Shego scowled at her. "I see we've reached the belittling part of the conversation." One hand flaring green, she sent a bolt of energy at the brunette's feet, causing her to hop back... without even a squeak of fear, to the the green girl's disappointment, but it wasn't as if Bonnie had not seen her in action before. "Beat it, Rockwaller. And if you tell anyone I'm here, I'll go burn your house down."

"Do I have to be in it when you do?"

"Bonnie," Kim growled.

"Fiiine. You freaks deserve each other, anyway." The cheerleader walked away with a dismissive wave.

Shego waited until she was out of earshot. "Surprised she hung around that long in the first place."

The teen hero turned from her high school rival to her worldly archfoe. "She's dating Junior now. Maybe she was curious."

The green girl raised an eyebrow. "Really? Heh... he must have mentioned me. She's jealous."

Kim's eyes widened. "Jealous? Why? Did you two..."

"Nah, nothing like that... well, almost nothing."

The redhead watched Shego grin down at her without elaborating further, and sighed. "I'll get your gloves," she grumbled, "Though I don't see why I should..."

"Actually, wait up. Give Rockwaller another minute. I wanna talk about this PASIV doohicky."

_Oh, here we go,_ Kim thought. "I don't suppose you'll tell me what Drakken's up to this time."

The villainess shrugged. "Don't know, don't care. I'm more interested in how _we_ can use it. Me and you."

"Huh?"

"I just spent the last few dream-hours going toe-to-toe with my version of you," Shego tapped her temple, "And while she was pretty accurate in my opinion, she wasn't the real deal. If we shared a dream, we could go at it until one of us actually _beats_ the other. No world in peril, no exploding lair... just us, finding out who's better, once and for all."

The redhead crossed her arms. "I thought we'd already settled that."

"Since when?"

"Bueno Nacho."

The villainess frowned. "That didn't end well for either of us."

"It felt pretty good from where I was standing."

"Yeah, kinda my point. You _hated_. I bet you got a _kick_ out of nearly killing me."

Kim seemed genuinely aghast. "Killing you?"

"Caved-in sternum, electrocuted, buried in rubble; hello?"

"But... I... you try to kill me all the time!"

Shego resisted the urge to wince. "Sometimes, maybe... until we're beaten... or we escape. But we _were_ beaten, Kimmie, and you did what you did anyway. Over a _boy_." She couldn't keep the sneer out of her voice. "You're the goody two-shoes. You're not supposed to try to _kill me_." She took a deep breath to calm herself. "But in the dream, it won't matter if one of us succeeds."

The redhead considered those words, eyeing Shego curiously. Since their first few confrontations, it was clear that they were evenly matched. Kim hadn't realised how much she enjoyed the fights until they had gone months between encounters. She wasn't sure when Shego had reached the same conclusion, but it had eventually become clear that she fought Kim for her own reasons, not because Drakken was paying her to.

Things had changed after Bueno Nacho, more than Kim had ever realised. She had never really thought about it before, but now...

Shego was busted out of prison - twice - instead of breaking out on her own. She let Drakken rot, only rejoining him after that incident with the alien Warmonga. Shego had saved Kim's life that day, and it was not the only time she had done so in the past year. She had claimed a kind of ownership over Kim; no one else was allowed to destroy her nemesis before she did.

Before, it had been about fighting Kim. Now it was about beating her.

"You enjoy the fights," Kim eventually spoke.

"Doy. Don't you?"

"Not as much as I used to," the teen hero sighed. "Shego... I'm sorry I hurt you so badly. You're right, I let my anger get the better of me-"

"Hate," the green girl corrected.

"...I don't hate you, Shego."

Kim couldn't read the expression on Shego's face that her admission had evoked, and the silent stare that came with it prompted the teenager to nervously elaborate. "I, uh... was stressing about school... well, social issues, really... so I made a bigger deal out of what happened than I should have. It's just... the hero stuff wierds guys out, and Ron is-"

"Yeah, yeah," the villainess interrupted, "I get it, cupcake. You'd rather settle for the buffoon than suffer the social backlash of going to prom alone." She briefly wondered how kids today would treat a lesbian couple. "Still think it's like dating your brother. And queso-flavoured kisses... blech."

Kim looked away, unwilling to openly agree. "I'll go get your gloves. Back in two minutes."

It wasn't until she had the gloves in her hand that she remembered she was supposed to be angry with Shego for playing nice with her mother. Her thoughts had been occupied with the prospect of sharing a dream with her archfoe, but now Monique's words returned to her. Was she really jealous of the relationship between mom and Shego?

The villainess was on ground level when Kim returned, leaning against one of the support pillars in front of the gym doors. She held out a hand when the redhead stopped in front of her, but instead Kim asked, "Shego, do you like me?"

"What?" Shego's voice was higher than she would have liked, and her wide eyes narrowed into a frown. "Just hand over the gloves, Possible," she growled.

"Not until you answer my question." Kim crossed her arms, gloves held tight in a fist.

"I've lost count of the number of times you've ruined Dr. D's plans, and since Bueno Nacho you've been showing up simply to ruin my day."

"Ruin _your_ day? You make it sound personal."

"Junior broke me out of prison to help him plan the perfect caper for his poppa's birthday. It was _sweet_. The tome of villainy, that stupid statue... it wouldn't have hurt anyone for us to take 'em. You coulda taken 'em right back, _after_, but nooo, you had to keep interfering! The only upside was watching Junior come up with the plan to kidnap Senior's card game buddies all on his own."

"He really came up with that himself?"

"Yeah. I was impressed." Shego smirked as she continued, "Who knows, maybe Bonnie will be the catalyst to make him a truly great villain."

"You were still stealing, Shego. I had to stop you."

"No one was in danger!" the green girl argued. "And I wasn't doing a darn thing in Greece, but you had to ruin that day too. If you hadn't flown around the world to interrupt my Me Time, I would've remained in blissful ignorance about Drakken and his new sidekick-"

Kim's expression turned earnest. "And I'd be dead without you."

That successfully derailed Shego's rant. "Yeah... well..."

"You would've regretted it, even if it was just because you didn't get to kill me yourself." The teen hero smiled. "But I don't think you really want to kill me. You want to _beat_ me, which _might_ kill me because neither of us like to give up. And now you have a way to do it _without_ killing me."

"Dammit, Kimmie..."

The smile grew. "You like me. I'm a thorn in your side when you're doing your job, but outside work..."

"Okay, fine! Enough!" The green girl held out her hand again and beckoned. This time, Kim gave her the gloves, and Shego immediately started tugging them on. "My life would be a lot more dull without you. And... you're the only thing that makes the memory of being Miss Go tolerable. But don't think I've gone soft on you! And if I ever think you're going soft on me, I _will_ hurt you."

The redhead countered the threat with a hug. Shego gasped at the contact, inhaling the scent of ginger hair, but otherwise remained frozen.

"I'm not letting go until you hug me back, Shego," Kim told her.

Shego's first instinct was to hug Kim back. The second was to grab a handful of that hair and yank the girl's head back so she could put her tongue in the teenager's mouth. The third was to say, "Which one of us has power?" before blasting the presumptuous minx away from her.

She hugged back, nuzzling the hair in her face, breathing it in deeply. "You'll pay for this, Possible," she muttered when she exhaled.

"In your dreams."

"No, in real life. You deserve nothing less." She felt Kim's giggle before the girl squeezed a little tighter, and tried not to gulp audibly before saying, "Enough. Go home, or whatever."

Kim let her go, a smirk on her face as she stepped back and asked, "Sure you don't wanna come with? I bet mom would be happy to see you."

"I don't doubt," Shego said as she tilted her hips and crossed her arms, "But the real me doesn't just give footrubs away like candy."

"That's a shame. Monique wanted me to ask for an appointment."

"Monique?" It took a moment for the name to register. "Banana Club girl?"

"And my best girl friend."

Shego couldn't resist. "If I'd known you swung both ways, cupcake, our fights might have ended up a lot more fun."

"_Girl-friend_, Shego," Kim specified with what was supposed to be a growl, but came out a little too high-pitched.

"I assume the buffoon doesn't mind sharing you with a hottie like her... but if you don't mind sharing _her_ with _me_, I suppose I could find a gap in my schedule to fit her into." The villainess laughed at the increasingly obvious blush creeping over the teenager's face. "Don't brave the fire if you can't take the heat, Kimmie. You may have grown up a bit, but you still can't out-sass me." She started walking off, but saved the best shot for last. "And tell your momma, if she wants another massage, she has to let me get my hands on more than her feet!"

It took a moment for the implication to set in; another for Kim to work through the disturbing imagery it evoked. The walk to the Sloth was spent wondering how much of what Shego said had been teasing, but one phrase kept circling to the forefront of her thoughts, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it.

_Our fights might have ended up a lot more fun?_


End file.
